[Donna_F]

I am a first time buyer and am enrolled in sailing courses. I will be living aboard as well. I am considering a Kirby 30 and a Catalina 27. The "Catalina Smile" makes me nervous and the deck reputation of the Kirby. I am more interested in the Kirby. Any thoughts.

Welcome to SailNet and to sailing. Lots I could comment on here but I'll just say that the "smile" is not unique to Catalina. We had it, got it fixed. Done.